Welcome to the Palomar Orchid Society Website!

The Palomar Orchid Society, incorporated in December of 1965 was formed when a few people banded together to talk about orchids. We then grew and bloomed into the roughly 200-member group of orchid enthusiasts that we have today. We represent everything orchid in North San Diego County! Come and join us!!

The Palomar Orchid Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding and cultivation of both hybrid and species orchids. We welcome members of all levels to join us for orchid fun and learning! Our mission is to promote interest in the appreciation of orchids and to provide an opportunity for their display and the exchange and dissemination of information relating to their culture.

Thomas MirendaWe are happy to welcome back Thomas Mirenda of the Hawaii Tropical Botanic Garden. Tom is a highly sought after orchid specialist who is very knowledgeable on many facets of orchid biology as well as on numerous classes of orchids. Tom will be speaking to us on "Herding Catts: A Beautiful Walk through a Difficult Phylogeny" a talk which overviews the most popular orchids, the cattleyas and their relatives. The cattleya alliance has recently undergone a very confusing and unpopular revision by taxonomists. Tom's talk will seek to clear up some of the controversies on this interesting class of orchids.

Tom's visit is being co-hosted by POS and the SDCOS. Accordingly, he will speak on "The Big Island Orchid Scene!" on Tuesday, March 6 to SDCOS in Balboa Park. POS members are welcome to attend this talk as well. The plant table will be supplied by one of our local orchid vendors.

In September of 2017, Tom accepted an exciting new position as the Director of Horticulture, Education and Outreach at the Hawaii Tropical Botanic Garden on the Big Island of Hawaii. For the previous 17 years, Tom was the Orchid Collection Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution, caring for and curating an extremely diverse collection of orchid species and hybrids from all over the world. He was active in developing and producing huge educational exhibits using the collection plants and visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors. Read more »

Andrew CameronOur society is happy to welcome Andy Cameron, Ph.D., from California Institute of Technology. Andy will be speaking to us on the importance of genes and chromosomes in orchids. The title of his talk is "Steamy Stories: How Genes and Chromosomes Do Their Dance." In the present era of genomics, concepts involving DNA, genes and chromosomes are offered to explain many of the everyday processes that we, as orchidists, find fascinating. How do genes affect the shape and colors of orchid flowers? What can the number of chromosomes tell us about our favorite cymbidium hybrids? The relevance of these questions to our understanding of the growth and hybridization of cymbidiums emerges from stories about the way the genetic material behaves during plant growth and form. His talk will take place in the Lake San Marcos conference center which is located near the pavilion.

Andy is a semi-retired member of the research faculty at the California Institute of Technology. He studies how the genomes of marine creatures like sea urchins and sea stars dictate the form of these animals. He is past president of the San Gabriel Valley Branch of the Cymbidium Society of America and an Associate Judge for the CSA. He writes the Duffer's Corner column for the CSA Journal. He also tries to convince cymbidiums and other cool-growing orchids that Pasadena is a good place to live. One of his major goals is to introduce orchid hobbyists to the wonderful body of biological information that underlies their pursuits. Read more »

Fred ClarkeWe are delighted to welcome back one of our favorite and most accomplished speakers, Fred Clarke. Fred will speak to us about "Orchid Flower Judging" and will gear his talk to amateurs who would like to learn how AOS judges evaluate flowers and what criteria are used to award plants. The talk will be interactive and he will use some of the plants that are brought in by members for our show-and-tell to demonstrate what constitutes an awardable plant. Fred is an ideal person to speak on this topic since he is a long time accredited American Orchid Society Judge in the Pacific South Judging Region and his orchids have received hundreds of awards, including 8 that have received the highest honor, the 'First Class Certificate' (FCC).

Fred is a generous supporter and life member of the Palomar Orchid Society. He has been growing orchids since 1977 and has been hybridizing for 36 of those years. With over 30 years as a professional grower and manager in the horticultural industry, Fred applies these skills at his orchid nursery, Sunset Valley Orchids, located in Vista, California, just north of San Diego. His nursery's website, http://www.sunsetvalleyorchids.com, has considerable information on plants for sale and many beautiful pictures of his award winning orchids. He is a passionate orchid grower whose curiosity in orchids is broad and varied. Read more »

Arnold GumIt is a pleasure to welcome back Arnold Gum to our society. Arnold will present a travel log on his trips to Taiwan, as a guest of the Taiwanese government, to judge the Taiwanese International Orchid Show. Arnold also spent some time exploring Taiwan including looking at some of their wild orchids, visiting orchid nurseries, and having wonderful meals with the Mayor of Tainan (in the South of Taiwan) and the President of Taiwan, visiting amazing temples, the national museum, the pottery museum, and of course, shopping. Arnold will review the highlights of his trips to this orchid rich part of the world. It is a presentation not to be missed.

Arnold Gum is a patent attorney by profession, working locally at Qualcomm. He has been growing orchids for over 45 years and spent his youth with some of Hawaii's greatest orchid pioneers including Ben Kodama, Tadao Kazumura, Isamu Ota, Richard Takafuji, Richard Takase, and Goodale Moir. Arnold has been an American Orchid Society Judge for around 25 years and has been a member of various orchid societies along the way. He has won over 85 AOS awards and grows all sorts of orchids including cattleyas, phalaenopsis, papiopedilums, including lots of rare and amazing plants. Over the years, Arnold has amassed a collection of several thousand plants. Like many of us, Arnold also grows other types of plants, including epiphyllum cacti, aloes, plumerias, and fruit trees.

The Palomar Orchid Society will be holding their annual Holiday Dinner and Officer installation on Wednesday, December 6 at Chan’s Chinese Restaurant located at 1650 Descanso Avenue, San Marcos, just off Highway 78 at the Rancho Santa Fe exit (ph. (760) 471-6088). This is the same location as last year

The deadline for sign up was November 20, but procrastinators can still sign up by contacting Bill Wong no later than November 30 to reserve your place at the table. Bill’s phone number is (760) 931-0502 and his email is billtcwong@att.net

The cost is $26 per person and includes a multi-course dinner and an orchid plant for members in good standing. Members may bring a guest if they choose to pay for them. The dinner menu is in the process of being finalized and will be similar to last year’s with appetizers, multiple main courses, tea and a fortune cookie. A cash bar will be available for those wanting beer, wine or mixed drinks.

We hope you will join us for fun, food, good conversation and mutual enjoyment of orchids. Please plan to arrive at 6 pm with dinner to be served at 6:30 pm.

Deadline for receipt of your payment is Monday, December 4, 2017. No payments accepted at the door!